LONDON: After exactly 1,000 minutes without finding the net, Timo Werner ended his Premier League goal drought.

The Chelsea striker tapped in at the far post after Olivier Giroud had failed to connect with a high cross to complete a 2-0 victory over Newcastle United on Monday.

“I think for a striker it is much harder when you come into the situation and you don’t have chances,” Werner told Sky Sports. “I had in the past a lot of chances and I missed them and also today my team brought me a lot of situations where I can score and it is important to keep going like today.”

The summer signing from RB Leipzig netted in the 39th minute against Newcastle at Stamford Bridge, making it an even 1,000 minutes on the pitch since his last league goal on November 7.

The Germany international also assisted the opener eight minutes earlier, with a cross spilled by Karl Darlow and prodded in by Giroud.

“As a striker you always want to score, the last month was not so [good] and I wasn’t happy with not scoring,” Werner said. “But at the end it is a team sport and when we win it is good, then I help the team with assists and winning penalties and now I am scoring and I am very glad I scored.”

A fourth straight league win since Thomas Tuchel replaced the fired Frank Lampard lifted Chelsea back into the fourth Champions League place.

While Chelsea are accustomed to playing in Europe’s elite competition, West Ham United have never qualified. But the east London club are only behind Chelsea in fifth place due to an inferior goal difference after beating bottom side Sheffield United 3-0 despite having their only recognised striker, Michail Antonio, out injured.

Instead Jesse Lingard, who is on loan from Manchester United, sparked the attack although the goals came from Declan Rice, Issa Diop and Ryan Fredericks and lifted the team above Liverpool.

“Obviously I wouldn’t have believed it at the start of the season if someone had said that,” said West Ham manager David Moyes, whose team was deep in relegation trouble this time last year. “It nearly feels uneasy talking like this. The teams around us are top, top teams and we are going to have to play incredibly well to be there. But I think we’ve got another gear or two to what we’ve shown tonight.”

Rice opened the scoring from a penalty West Ham’s first spot kick of the season in the 41st after Lingard was brought down by Chris Basham.

Diop added the second after he was left unmarked to nod in Aaron Cresswells corner and substitute Fredericks tucked in the third in stoppage time.

Current standings

(Tabulated under played, won, drawn, lost, goals for, goals against, points):

Manchester City 23 16 5 2 46 14 53

Manchester United 24 13 7 4 50 31 46

Leicester City 24 14 4 6 42 26 46

Chelsea 24 12 6 6 40 24 42

West Ham United 24 12 6 6 37 28 42

Liverpool 24 11 7 6 45 32 40

Everton 22 11 4 7 34 30 37

Aston Villa 22 11 3 8 36 24 36

Tottenham Hotspur 23 10 6 7 36 25 36

Arsenal 24 10 4 10 31 25 34

Leeds United 23 10 2 11 40 42 32

Wolverhampton Wanderers 24 8 6 10 25 32 30

Southampton 23 8 5 10 30 39 29

Crystal Palace 24 8 5 11 27 42 29

Brighton & Hove Albion 24 5 11 8 25 30 26

Burnley 23 7 5 11 17 29 26

Newcastle United 24 7 4 13 25 40 25

Fulham 23 3 9 11 19 31 18

West Bromwich Albion 24 2 7 15 19 55 13

Sheffield United 24 3 2 19 15 40 11

Published in Dawn, February 17th, 2021